President Obama touts loan plan in Harvard, other university papers

President Barack Obama is taking his pitch for his student loan debt plan to the students of Harvard University.

In an op-ed published in The Harvard Crimson and online in several other universities, the student newspaper at the president’s alma mater, Obama on Tuesday said he feels the pain of many young people at Harvard.

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“As you’re getting ready to head out into the world, many of you are watching your friends and classmates struggle to find work. You’re wondering what’s in store for your future, and I know that can be scary,” the president wrote.

Keeping up a line of attack he has been using to promote his jobs bill in recent weeks, the president pointed the finger at Republicans for hindering economic progress.

“The problem is, there are some in Washington who just don’t share that sense of urgency. That’s why it’s been so disappointing to see Republicans in Congress block jobs bills from going forward — bills that independent economists say could create millions of jobs though the kinds of proposals supported by Democrats and Republicans in the past,” Obama wrote.

Saying he plans to continue demanding that Congress pass parts of his jobs bill, the president also rallied Harvard students to help him send a message to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“I hope you’ll sent them a message to do the right thing for your future, and the future of our country,” he said.

Obama wrote that he and first lady Michelle Obama understand what it is like to have “a mountain of debt.” The president recalled having about $120,000 in debt after they had graduated from law school and how it has taken almost a decade to pay it all off.

“It wasn’t easy,” he said.

The president touted his administration’s plan to help relieve the burden of student loans — a plan that he announced at the University of Colorado in Denver last week.

According to Harvard’s website, families with students on scholarship pay an average of $11,500 annually in tuition, and more than 60 percent of Harvard College students receive aid. In the 2012-13 school year, students from families with incomes of less than $65,000 “will generally pay nothing” toward the cost of attending the college.

The total cost of attending Harvard in the 2011-12 school year is $52,652 for tuition, room, board and fees.

Obama’s op-ed was also published online on the websites of the University of Texas at Austin, California State University, Fresno, and Texas Tech University.

Readers' Comments (23)

That's what we need, more Harvard graduates. It would be interesting to know how many CEO's and hedge fund managers being protested against by the OWS crowd went to Harvard?

Are Harvard graduates considered middle class?

If we bail out a Harvard law graduate of his student loans so he/she can go on to be a rich lawyer, does that count as a tax cut for the rich?

I am all for helping people get a education, but if they are capable of paying the student loans back after graduating,they should. Is Obama suggesting his $120,000 in student loans should have been wipe clean because he "struggled"?

Also, for the Harvard grads getting degrees in French history, if you cannot pay off your own loan - tough. Next time take advantage of the gift you were given (the chance at a great education) instead of squandering it.

Its not just about Harvard. I had to pay my way through college with private and federal loans becase even though my parents "made" enough money that I wasn't eligible for scholarships/grants/etc they couldn't help me. Now I have about $65,000 in student loans and even though I have a job and am fully prepared to pay them off, it will take 20+ years and a substantial part of my paycheck.

What Obama is proposing is not 'forgiveness' of loans, thats unfeasible. Instead, the start date for a program that allows loan payment amounts to be based on income is being moved up, the length of time after which (federal) loans are forgiven is reduced to 20 years, and makes it easier and more attractive to consolidate federal loans.

No one is proposing forgiveness.

All that being said, whats the problem here? I dont see any drawbacks to this other than the fact that Obama felt he had to do it on his own becase this Congress is so wrapped up in itself that it cant get anythign done.

It sounds like your job doesn't pay you enough to get your student loan paid off quickly.

My advice would be to get a second job, in the evenings and weekends tending bar or waiting tables, in order to pay off your loans sooner.

It just takes hard work. It's that simple.

Good luck with it.

BTW, I thought Obama's plan said that, under his new program, if the loan wasn't paid off in (20) years, then it was washed away. I can't see why someone would even then try to pay off their loan ahead of time.

Those dirty stinking liberal Harvard Business School graduates are the ones that crashed Wall Street. We need more conservative business professionals that graduated from ITT and Phoenix University running Wall Street!!!!!

Youd try to pay it off because thats the deal you enter into. I've seen the repayment plans, my loans will be paid off at a minimum payment in roughly 20 years. Even paying the minimum amount you can per month you've still paid the lions share of the loan back, even counting the interest. Besides, you cant just not pay anything, for those who live under a rock thats called defaulting and its a bad thing.

I knew EXACTLY what I was getting into, I'm not complaining about that. However, when you have an economy where even people with relevant bachelors degrees are having trouble getting jobs it is hard to justify NOT paying up to get a degree, however it is that you have to do that. Therefore making it easier to pay off student loans shouldnt be such a big deal, no one is asking for complete forgiveness. There really isnt much lost by what has been done here, if after 20 years my not having to pay back a couple thousand dollars hasnt been made up for by what I contribute in taxes from the job I got in no small part due to my degree, then I'll reconsider my stance on this.

We ALL pay taxes, even us 'liberal parasites'. If you can find an appreiciable tax increase on yourself after 20 years because I or someone else gets some small percentage of their loans forgiven, you can come find me.

Obama is a narcissist. Thank you Obama. You have finally resolved the racial identity political crisis that has plagued America since the Civil War. You forced me to understand that although Mankind has its origins in Africa, my tribe has been trying to get away from yours for 20,000 years, unless we are both E1b1b1 type, in which case you are at war with yourself. If I am E1b1b1 and you are racially Neanderthal R type, then where I to defeat you for the Presidency then I would be the first Black President.

If they pass the bills, jobs will be created and the unemployment rate will slowly come down.

If Americas economy improves Americans will rightfully credit the President.

So the GOP sabotages and lies and takes hosteges and makes deals it then yanks the rug out from under at the last minute. Forcing credit TEABAGGER DOWNGRADES which deplete voters 401k's and stall the economy even more.

As this article clearly shows, a massive 'wealth transfer' is already going on in the U.S. through the college financing process, with lower income folks sending their kids to college for free or greatly reduced prices, while others who make more income pay full price or close to it, amounting to $200K for four years or more, per child.

Those folks who are paying the full price are subsidizing the others who are getting it discounted through school 'grants' etc. to offset the reduced income to the school. So in other words, those subsidies mean that the higher income folks are not only paying full price to send their own kids to school, but they are paying the cost of someone else kids as well.

Wealth transfer. Why should one family have to pay for someone else family to go to college ? College isn't a right guaranteed in the Constitution...

You do realize this is about federal loans right? School grants or not, the point is to help those who have loans.Trust me, you have to really NEED free help to go to school to get it. Its not a direct transfer system; for every person who pays full price to go to school there is not someone else who gets to go for free. Universities would go bankrupt. What you end up with is a few who ride for free while everyone else in one way or another pays full price.

This is about loans. A loan is not a grant, it is not a scholarship. Loans are paid back with interest, by the time 20 years hits youve probably baid back at least the orignial amount of the loan and are then just paying back interest. I dont get why helping people save a little money 20 years down the road is such a hardship for anyone.

We all know that the idiot in chief stalled the economy by declaring war on the US Chamber of Commerce and forcing National Health Care down the throats of small business owners. We'll deal with this guy in 2012.